The present invention relates to the production of at least one thin insulating or weakly-doped layer located in the neighbourhood of a highly-doped layer in the body of a semiconductor material. The component possessing this structure also forms an object of the invention. The invention is concerned in particular with PIN structures in which a layer with a very low doping ratio, also known as an intrinsic or insulating layer, is arranged between two layers of opposite conductivity type, which are more or less highly doped. In the case of structures designed to operate in the microwave range, the insulating layer may be limited to a thickness in the order of a tenth of a micron. Also, in microwave work, more complex structures are encountered in which there are a succession of layers having different kinds of doping, certain ones of which are extremely thin.
It is possible using known methods, in particular epitaxy, to produce very thin very highly-doped layers, rarely however of a thickness less than one micron. It is possible by ion implantation to produce layers of this kind. On the other hand, however, no easy method is known of producing a very thin very weakly-doped layer in very close proximity of a normally doped layer. In addition, when producing an intrinsic layer in gallium arsenide, recourse has to be had to doping by compensation using copper ions which have a tendency to diffuse, this causing a deterioration in the structure during manufacture when it is subjected to later processes at relatively high temperature.